Maya 8 review
The latest release of Maya is the first version since Autodesk acquired Alias, and users are keen to see how Autodesk has stamped its ownership on the product.
Reviews
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Magicolor 7450 review
Konica Minolta’s latest laser printer may look like a 1970s Soviet housing project, but a few niggles aside, the quality of its output will satisfy many designers.
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SymmetryShop review
A Photoshop plug-in that creates complex repeating patterns, Artlandia’s SymmetryShop can be used for creating commercial wallpapers to seamless textures.
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VTour 1.0 review
VTour is a new program that allows you to construct 3D virtual environments with photorealistic textures, starting from a single photographic panorama. It’s available for Windows 2000 and XP, and a Mac OS X version will be released in the summer.
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Intuos3 A3 wide review
For graphics tablet users working on high-end workstations, it’s time to clear your desks of paper, empty coffee cups, picture frames, and novelty gonks – to make way for Wacom’s Intuos3 A3 Wide pen tablet.
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CorelDraw X3 Graphics Suite review
Now in its thirteenth incarnation, Corel Graphics Suite seems confident enough to take on Adobe’s Creative Suite 2, armed with a stack of new functions and an attractive price. Its features are strong, but there’s obviously a desire not to tempt fate – the company decided against naming it CorelDraw 13.
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Intuos3 A5 wide review
To cater for the growing use of widescreen displays, Wacom has released an Intuos3 A5 Wide pen tablet – the company’s first widescreen tablet. With an active area of 11-x-6 inches that provides a 16:10 aspect ratio, the Intuos3 A5 Wide is aimed at professionals working in digital imaging, graphic design, and video editing.
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ConceptDraw WebWave review
ConceptDraw WebWave is an application for creating layout diagrams, flowcharts, and visualizations. Aimed at Web professionals, it has a number of features that allow designers and developers to flow, structure, prototype, and wireframe Web sites and layouts.
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Freeway Pro 4 review
Given that the last full version of Freeway was released six years ago, you can’t accuse Softpress of issuing upgrades on a whim. Freeway 4 is certainly a significant upgrade.
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SketchBook Pro 2 review
The company that brought us Maya also produces an application that doesn’t strive to be cleverer than the person sat in front of it. Sketchbook Pro gives artists a drawing environment not a million miles away from good old pen and paper.
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Maya 7 review
This latest release sees changes throughout, with virtually no major area of the program left untouched. Maya 7 introduces a host of new features as well as changes and revisions to existing ones, and includes some reworking of the UI and workflow.
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Xtivity 1.1 review
Plenty of multimedia-authoring applications these days offer the ability to export your projects to the SWF Flash file format. The difference here lies in the process.
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Hexagon review
Hexagon, the latest release from Eovia, is a dedicated 3D polygon modeller. The company already has a handful of 3D programs in the form of Carrara and Amapi. Eovia offers yet more 3D products on its Web site – you can buy DAZ and Pandromeda products, including MojoWorld and Bryce, at Eovia online.
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Canvas X review
Since it's launch, Canvas has grown into an integrated vector graphics, image editing and multi-page layout package, though still with the emphasis on CAD import for technical drawings.
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Illustrator CS 2 review
Illustrator has always had a more technical feel to it – but the interface, as well as some of the tools in CS 2, have been improved in a way that makes working with vector images a freer and more creative process.
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Toon Boom Studio 2.5 review
Digitized 2D cell animation is a tricky thing to get right. The toolset required seems similar to those in any other drawing application, but in reality they need to be a lot more specialized. Toon Boom Studio 2.5 offers a decent and robust toolset together with a clearly set-out workflow for 2D animation.
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Shade 7 review
Shade 7 is pitched as a beginner-level 3D tool (or a tool for 2D designers and illustrators with minimal 3D needs) which may be true when considering the price, but nevertheless it’s a sophisticated modelling tool with a steep learning curve.
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Intuos3 review
The first thing you notice about the Intuos3 is the industrial design. Gone is the matte plastic case of older versions, and in its place is a high-gloss, clear plastic similar to that used in some of Apple's hardware over the years. The clear plastic is backed by a graphite metallic colour, giving the tablet a cool and clean appearance.
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Xara X1 review
This drawing and illustration application has been in a crisis of identity recently. In the last couple of years it’s been called eveything from Corel Xara to Webster. This upgrade bears the name Xara X1.
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SketchUp 4.0 review
SketchUp stands out among 3D graphics programs thanks to its innovative and simple ‘push/pull’ approach, which makes it easy to sketch 2D shapes and then quickly manipulate them in three dimensions with the mouse.